Eating in 2013

Happy new year!  Yes, I have been tardy.  Yes, I have been MIA since October 2013.  Career wise, it was an unusually crazy 4th quarter.  It usually is anyway in the run up to the holiday season, but this time the craziness spilled right into it.  So no repeat of a vacation away but instead, a staycation in Singapore parked close to the work laptop had to do.

Fat Ma of Kwong Wah Store - picture credit to an unknown artist

It is probably appropriate to bid a proper goodbye to the following, some of whom we will miss badly.  I will miss Fat Ma of Kwong Wah Store most.  Almost an institution in the Tai Hang area before the advent of other more trendy eateries, Fat Ma finally threw in the towel ironically on my birthday and will no longer deal with rising rents, a systemic issue nowadays.  I will miss her cutting wit delivered in her loud booming voice and her home-style dishes which I had fondly grown to love eating at least once a week.  It was by no means gourmet but it was a slice of home.  Properly boiled soups which had been on the fire for hours, scrambled eggs with sea prawns, perfectly steamed fish and honeyed chicken wings.  I hope to someday have the privilege of eating your food again, Fat Ma.  In the meantime, have a restful retirement.

We also said goodbye to:

- Manor and its signature cholesterol sandwiches of liver and fat, which foodies affectionately coined

- Harlan Goldstein's Strip House now replaced by his new concept Comfort

I thought I saw a tweet that suggested that The Drawing Room will close too but wasn't able to verify it.

Joo Heng's steamed Soon Hock with bean paste and lard

In Singapore, we said goodbye Mr. Soon Ah Chai, the patriarch of Joo Heng Restaurant.  I will miss his awkward smile, one that I had been accustomed to seeing since I started patronizing the place in the late 90s.  Fortunately, his family is still carrying on the roaring business, and it is still possible to have Soon Hock fish steamed the old fashioned way with piquant bean paste and lard pieces liberally sprinkled over.

And on that note, here are my lists by city.  Please note that these are places I did patronize so if your favorite did not make my list, it probably just means I didn't make it there in 2013 and will hope to this coming year.

Hong Kong

Chinese - Ming Court, Tin Lung Heen
Japanese - Sushi Sase, Gin Sai, Ronin, Sushi Toku, Butao Ramen, Hana Sakazuki
Spanish - 22 Ships
Modern European - On Lot 10
South East Asian - Fatty Crab , Cafe Malacca
Private Kitchen - Ta Pantry
Pastries and then some - Beef pie from the Mandarin Cake Shop, macarons from Pierre Herme, Eric Kayser
Down & Dirty - Yuet Wah Wui, Keung Kee, Man Fatt, Kong Hing, Sing Fatt, Yummy Vietnamese
Coffee - Kitamura, 18 Grams

Ronin's Kagoshima Beef, Maitake, Egg Yolk

Cafe Malacca's Sago Gula Melaka

Singapore

Chinese - Cheng Hoo Tian, Chao Shan Cuisine, Jing Hua Restaurant
Italian - Valentino, Bruno's, Sopra
Japanese - Ikyu, Sushi Mitsuya, Wahiro , Hakata Ikkuosha
Mexican - Lower East Side
Peranakan - Candlenut, Daisy's Dream Kitchen
Spanish - Catalunya
Modern European - Bacchanalia, Toots Brasserie
Down & Dirty - Joo Heng Restaurant , Penang Seafood Restaurant, Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow
Pastries and then some - Eric Kayser, Tiong Bahru Bakery, B.A.O.
Coffee - Nylon, Penny University, Liberty Coffee, Jewel Cafe & Bar

Sushi Mitsuya

Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow

Bangkok 

Thai - Sra Bua, Issaya Siamese Club, Supanniga Eating Room
Italian - Enoteca Italiano
Bistro - Little Beast

Issaya Siamese Club

Beijing

Chinese vegetarian - King's Joy
Modern European - Sureno

King's Joy

Shanghai

French bistro - La Queue du Chiot
Vegetarian bistro - Green Vege Cafe
Chinese bistro - Yun Se

Yun Se's mountain yam with blueberries

Macau

French - Robuchon au Dome
Possibly my best meal of the year in terms of food and service.

Robuchon's mussels - just perfect

Thanks for staying tuned to EdEats and while there is no certainty that I will be blogging that often in 2014 either, I will continue to be active on Twitter @edenalow and Instagram edenalow so I hope you  can join me there also.  May 2014 be everything you wish for it to be.

Hong Kong - Gin Sai 吟彩

Gin Sai is part of the trio of restaurants in the new and luxurious Oakhill apartments in Wanchai, that have opened to "critical acclaim", owned by the Lai Sun group, perhaps known first and foremost for the prices of their establishments, but impossible to get last minute reservations.  (Yes, I suppose Hong Kong is still very much thriving.)  So I was pleasantly surprised to have been able to get into Gin Sai on a Friday night.  It wasn't that new when I first visited but it looked to be a "fly-swatting" night, at least on ground level.  But having valet-ed the car, it was a little too late.

Oden

I am not a huge fan of oden, a broth based dish served in wintry Japan comprising a variety of ingredients depending on where you eat it, but fish cakes, tofu and boiled radishes seem to be the order of most days.  Being one of their specialties, I actually enjoyed the very tasty but light broth which I finished.  My choices of radish, a steamed squid and meatball dumpling, alongside a deep fried tofu with chopped vegetables and ground fish were actually good.  Fresh and obviously not processed unlike some places.  Serving it with a dollop of mustard on the side added a little pungency and kick to an otherwise mild dish.

Hokkaido Potato Salad

Having traveled the week and not having eaten less than healthily, I thought a salad would be good.  But I had no difficulty succumbing to the recommended potato salad, which was bound together with a fragrant and addictive eggy dressing.  So much for fiber.  I guess the consolation is that they had lettuce on the side.

Tempura crab claw and sea urchin

This was just appropriately decadent for the lazy.  No peeling of crab necessary and lightly battered and deep fried.  Any uncomfortable heat taken away by the creamy topping of cool fresh sea urchin, the sea sweetness accentuated by a little soy sauce.  Gone too quickly...

Robatayaki ox tongue

This was supposedly French.  Whichever French ox it came from, it was pretty tender with a bite.  Just lightly seasoned and grilled to perfection, good with a little wholegrain mustard, and cold sake if you get some.

Chicken meatball

However, I didn't enjoy this as much since I too like my meatballs only lightly seasoned and with enough crunch from the cartilage they infused it with.  This one was distracting with hints of ginger and garlic.  Not overwhelming but obvious enough for it to be distracting.

Seasonal claypot rice

This was by far my favorite dish of the evening.  And we had to wait a good 45 minutes for this.  Thank goodness for free Wifi.

Claypot rice cooked to perfection with sea urchin, crab meat and egg white, laced with fresh chopped scallions.  And bonus?  More fresh sea urchin.

The result?  A sea-tasty bowl of well formed rice with a little crunch from the slightly charred bits of rice nearest the base of the claypot.  Rice was high quality and well cooked to be separate and distinct - an important factor for me.  Mouthfuls of varied textures and tastes, all different depending on what you pick up with your spoon.  So good I doggy-bagged the leftovers and had it 2 days later.  It was still good.

Dessert

They had an interesting array of Western style desserts rather than the usual Japanese offerings, probably because it is the same pastry kitchen as Wagyu Takumi, the French-Japanese restaurant member of the same group.  We selected swiss rolls topped with different berries.  Use of good ingredients here ensured the result was a lightly sweet end to a decent dinner.

While prices aren't low, the plus is a comfortable and quiet dining experience away from the world of Suzie Wong that is not far away.  A big bonus in an overcrowded Hong Kong these days.

Shop 3-7, G/F The Oakhill, 

32-38 Cross Lane

Wanchai

Tel: +852-25741118

Hong Kong - Sushi Toku 壽司德

More than 2 years after I first discovered this place, I finally made it back for dinner - something I had planned to do so since that declaration in 2011.  Since it had been a while and it was our first time for dinner, I was advised against Omakase and instead we picked items off the Specials menu.  A semi-work dinner meant I was less than able to remember names of fishies but from the selections, it was only slightly off the beaten track and mostly featured things we would have eaten before.

Starting off with a "carpaccio" of a "left-mouthed" fish.  Well, at least it's what the Chinese call them.  Although they had left and right, I was told left was right and so that's what we ended up with.  Sweet with a subtle crunch and almost a default to start with these days, it's excellent in summer with the tart ponzu soy it's served with.

Then a lightly torched pice of Kinmedai and cockles.  Although the species of cockle was supposed to be very seasonal, I wasn't that blown away.  I still like the red, raw and bloody type best..

A crowd favorite - chopped mackeral with scallions and what was a really fragrant and sweeter version of lemongrass.  Excellent with K's choice of Sake.

The cooked courses were very enjoyable despite the lack of choice since several things weren't available anymore.  A notable miss was the tempura of fresh figs which I must go back for.  The grilled eggplant with sweet miso wasn't bad though since it was still firm and not overly mushy.  Great way to eat this vegetable... or is it a fruit?

The sweet river fish or Ayu is an absolute seasonal fave with sweet and soft cottony flesh.  In bed sheet terms this would be no less than 500 threadcount.  Just lightly salted and grilled so you enjoy its natural goodness.  Accompaniments are strictly that and quite unnecessary.

This was the winner of the evening.  Good grade beef from Saga served on a hotplate and left to cook table side.  Capturing photos meant I left it to cook a tad longer than I would have liked but it was still melt-in-your-mouth goodness.  Amazing stuff.

After the beef, this very good fish tempura unfortunately paled in comparison (only in wow factor) and I was too distracted to even remember the name of the fish.  My bad.

To end, an Uni laden piece of sushi and sweet egg roll omelette.  The Uni was from Hokkaido and supremely sweet.  The Tamago was K's request although I had warned him that after my experiences at Sushi TaKe  and Sushi Sase , it would be hard to beat those.  I was unfortunately right.

Notwithstanding, we were pretty pleased with the evening's experience and the place does have enough credibility to compete with Sushi Kenjo and Sushi Hiro in the TST area.  A definite add to the TST list in my book.

Shop B, 2/F, Cameron Plaza
23-25A Cameron Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852- 2301 3555

Hong Kong - Ta Pantry

Eastern Kowloon across the Easter Corridor

In space-constrained Hong Kong, many of us do not have the luxury of hosting house parties with the same comfort and full dining settings that dining in a good-class restaurant can land you.  Such is the reality of shoe-box Hong Kong, where real estate prices have been in the crazy realm for a long time, much to the chagrin of average Joe.

Enter Ta Pantry's new location in North Point.  In a really old (almost dilapidated looking) industrial building in North Point, where the vicinity has seen more garage workshops than eateries, Ta Pantry has decided to convert the space into spacious dining rooms, complete with long tables, a cozy demi-luxe finish, a cocktail balcony overlooking the skyline of eastern Kowloon, flanked by a hip cellar, literally.

Breads and condiments

While taking in the views and the length of the room which sits up to 14, our small party of 4 made ourselves comfortable with bread and wine, to wind down after a long week.  The day's rush meant no one remembered the wine and fortunately they had a limited but decent list to choose from.  A good variety of breads meant I broke low carb rule yet again but hey, it was the weekend!  Marinated olives and almonds were good with the chilled Burgundy we had.

Amuse Bouche

With bated breath, we sat down to dinner with the amuse bouche.  Wasn't really amused by this cream corn on a baked fritter.  The 48 month old Bellota was a little lost so as host, I got a little worried..

Tuna, Tuna, Tuna

No prizes for guessing what was in this first course.  3 different takes on raw tuna, this turned heads after the amuse bouche.  Phew.  We were advised to eat left to right or if you look at this photo from back to front.  The first being a layered mille feuille of fresh tuna and cucumber with a light miso.  Appetising start.  The second which was diced with a sweet soy was a nice contrast to the first and really tasty.  I didn't mind the sweetness of the soy at all.  Culminating with minced tuna and black truffle on sushi rice, this was my favorite of the 3 with the combination of flavors working well together.

Foie Gras Tamago Custard

A nice take on the classic chawanmushi, this was given dimension by the foie gras foam and sauteed mushrooms over the top and given slight crunch by traditional Chinese rice crispies.  I wished there were nominal pieces of foie gras with the mushrooms, and should have asked about the extra order of $100 foie gras as I incorrectly assumed there were already some.  Eaten all together this was a delightful combination of flavors but I ran out of condiments and the remaining custard was a tad bland afterwards and a little too firm compared with traditional steamed egg custards, making it a little bulky for the tummy.

Yuzu Miso Cod

This was well executed although I couldn't really discern the yuzu or miso on the very good piece of cod, which was buttery and soft.  The Daikon carpaccio and tomato coulis were a nice touch to neutralize the richness of this oily fish.

Melting Onion Duck

This was an extra order and pretty generous in portion that I couldn't finish.  The minimum order was 4 portions so there wasn't a real sharing option since there were only 4 of us, but we lived a little.  Nice Canto style roast duck breast that was tender sitting atop a bed of onion puree.  To distract from the salty richness of the dish, there were eggplant fritters and minced duck on toast.

Uni Spaghetti

What I liked about this dish was the fact that they blow torched the Uni, giving it a smoky finish you don't find with this increasingly popular dish in other places.  My only diss about this was an uncanny sliminess from the Uni which was more apparent than ordinary, reminiscent of yam puree in traditional Japanese cooking which I'm not a real fan of.  But loved this and given its richness, the 4 mouthful portion was just right.

Crepe in Tata's Favorite Way

Dessert was simple and almost had a child-like innocence to it, with a simple crepe enfolding a spread of nutella, corn flakes and a scoop of green tea ice cream.  Uncomplicated and a comfort finish.  We were told the flower is edible but I didn't like it after a nibble.  Tasted as synthetic as it looked.

Petit fours

Petit fours were 4 macarons but this was the least exciting of the entire night.  Nothing like what we have been spoiled with after the advent of all these macaron patisseries opening up for business in the city.  

Notwithstanding, it was a lovely night in a lovely setting.  While the food isn't the best you can get for the price in this city, what you pay for is a nice experience to enjoy decent enough food with folks you either care to spend time with, impress or just want a little privacy with.  I would go back just for that and of course, to try the 5 other menus.  And did I mention the service would beat most other places hands down?

Check out also fellow foodie blogger @g4gary 's recent visit where his party had the Indochine menu .

5th floor, Block C, Sea View Estate
No. 8 Watson Road
North Point
Hong Kong
+852 2521 8121

Hong Kong - Yung Kee 容記小菜王

Not to be confused with its English namesake in Central, Hong Kong for a certain style of goose, this is  right in the heartland of Kowloon.  Sham Shui Po was developed commercially very early on but has mainly become an old residential area now with one of the most well known computer centers in the territory.  The other attraction is Apliu Street where electronics are traded in big volumes.  All the hustle and bustle means folks gotta eat and there is no shortage of choice in the area.

Packed even at 10pm

Yung Kee, as the Chinese name suggests, serves up a myriad of home style dishes, with a twist, says its owner.  His philosophy of less salt, less oil and less MSG, is apparent in the food, all designed to make you feel like you're dining in a Hong Kong home away from your own.  Small, tight, spartan and with the air-conditioning way too cold.

Old style tea pot and tableware

We went way too late to try any of the specialties but what we got, we came away pretty satisfied and look forward to going back next time, and pre-ordering the specials, especially now that we know that Mr. Chatty Boss knows one of our cohorts for many a decade..

Preserved vegetable and pork congee 菜乾豬骨粥

Cutting back on carbs meant I passed on rice, also so I could try a lot more of the dishes ordered.  But to warm myself from the North Pole A-C, I settled on the congee which was nicely done.  And yes, tasty but not salty so you feel can drink this endlessly without any guilt.  Smooth with just a little bite from the broken grains. 

Pan fried Pork Patties 鹹魚茸煎肉餅

By far the winner of the night, these were as good as any I've ever had, and I've had quite a few.  Bouncy insides and a subtle hint of salted fish for that added umami.  Any thought that this was too big a pattie each for one person was thrown out the window, since I could have done with more than half a pattie after they halved it.  

Stewed pork trotters in Italian Balsamic 意式豬腳薑

This was my other fave for the night.  Presentation was underwhelming since the vinegar looked thin and tasteless, but the taste was definitely there.  Unlike traditional ones which tend to have a caramelly finish to the tartness, this had a cleaner sweetness and we were told by Mr. Chatty Boss himself that he combines balsamic with fruit vinegars to keep it light.  He insisted we drink every last drop of the gravy, and I had no difficulties complying with the order.  The ginger had some heat to offer a kick but not overly so as to take away from the dish so you can literally polish this off without remains (save for the bones).

Steamed tripe 薑蔥牛珀葉

This is one of those touch and go dishes since I give up if the tripe has the texture of tyres.  But this one was executed to perfection, crunchy but not chewy.  Oh so easy to pop, especially in a sauce that has hints of sesame oil, and a dip that is soy, spicy chillies and fresh garlic.  

Other dishes were competent but less to write home about.

Sweet sour pork ribs 菠蘿生炒骨

With just enough sauce to quote and ribs still "juicy" as Mr. Chatty Boss calls it, yes, this was delivered almost to perfection although I like my pork pieces just a tad crispier.

Stir fried little cabbages with fermented tofu 椒絲腐乳白菜仔

These vegetables are usually just fried without much else or served in a roasted garlic bulb laced superior stock.  This way was different and darn tasty.  LIKE!

Stir fried lettuce with dace 油麥菜炒鯪魚

Even those who don't like to eat the greens would enjoy this.  Always a tad oily since that's how they preserve the dace but just pretend it's spinaci with anchovies, then it's all good again.

Chicken and pork liver casserole 

Since the special chicken was sold out, this was recommended as an alternative.  Tasty and good with a bowl of rice, chicken was succulent and gives you a hint of what they can really do with their own farm-reared chickens which we were assured were not from north of the border.  Pork liver slices were done just nice to be tender and soaked up the essence of the gravy.

Tofu barrel 竹筒肉碎豆腐

This was where the dish didn't live up to its looks.  What I conjured up in my mind when I  saw the wooden barrel was a rustic beany taste from the tofu in a robust sauce.  What I got on my palate was just regular tofu pieces with ground pork and Chinese mushrooms.  Won't be a repeat order from me.

One more thing: Mr. Chatty Boss raves about his home made soup which goes on the boil forever.  I found it a little tasteless and thin.  If you don't get access to soups often because of your lifestyle you might make do but otherwise skip it since it ain't cheap compared to everything else.

That said, I will venture back to the heartlands to sample his supposed specialties of crispy roast pork, steamed chicken with secret sesame sauce, and his vegetarian tofu rolls.  Stay tuned.

G/F, 118-120 Fuk Wa Street

Sham Shui Po, Kowloon

Tel: +852-2387 1051